This weekend I am moving to a new home in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood. I have never lived in this area before, so this evening I was doing some basic Internet research to learn about the history of the neighborhood.

I discovered that in 1849, my neighborhood did not even exist. It was part of Yerba Buena Cove in San Francisco Bay! In between then and the 1906 earthquake, the cove was filled in and developed. The South of Market area was mostly industrial then. The destruction of the 1906 earthquake was only exceeded by the fires that followed. My neighborhood took a direct hit from the tremors and fires; whatever did not fall in the quake burned in the fire.

In 1989, the Loma Prieta quake struck the Bay Area. It was—and still remains—the largest earthquake since 1906. Again, my neighborhood was severely impacted as the nearby Embarcadero Freeway, a double-decker built during the auto expansion of the 1950s, was damaged so badly it had to be destroyed. This resulted in a renaissance for the neighborhood, as the City’s waterfront was again opened up for all to enjoy. After that, a development boom resulted in new residential and commercial development for the neighborhood. We are moving into one of these new residential units in a brand new building that I hope is earthquake-safe, fire-proof and flood-resistant.

Designing and developing for the web is a constant learning process, which is fun! Technology evolves at a rapid rate. New standards evolve making old ways of doing things irrelevant or just plain wrong. So staying relevant means keeping up with what’s going on. This makes time-management an essential creative skill.

When it comes to code, it is counterproductive to reinvent the wheel for every project. So I try to write solid code that works and validates the first time. Then I know I can use it over and over again, making adjustments for display purposes. I have developed my own snippets resource book to tap into when I need to do something I’ve already done before. There’s simply no sense reinventing the wheel.

A blog I follow regulary is Chris Coyier’s CSS Tricks. This past week, he added a new feed called Code Snippets. Practically overnight, it has become one of my favorite resources for web development solutions. It’s not a new idea to use snippets, but it’s an amazing new central location for solutions to common problems. Now if we could just get Internet Explorer into the 21st century…

It’s really true. After a while, you walk past the guys in leather chaps…and little else. You practically don’t even see the fancy pet outfits. Perfectly coiffed, exquisitely outfitted elderly twins fade into the background around Union Square. You don’t even question the obvious fact that Speaker Pelosi, Senator Feinstein and Mayor Newsom are entirely too conservative. Basically, it takes something breathtaking and unexpected to grab your attention and make you say, “Holy cow!” And this brings me to my point.

I tell people about this all the time, but they never believe me: There are real live buffalo in San Francisco! Okay, technically, they are the same American Bison, commonly called American Buffalo, that have long been sacred creatures to Native Americans. Growing up in the Midwest, I don’t recall ever seeing one anywhere. Sadly, they no longer freely roam the Great Plains as they did for thousands of years. Whenever I am on the west end of Golden Gate Park, I always take a moment to stop and see these majestic animals. I rarely get a photo clear enough to post, but this time I got lucky.

According to Wikipedia, Bison have been kept in Golden Gate Park since 1891, when a small herd was purchased by the park commission. At the time, the animal’s population in North America had dwindled to an all-time low and San Francisco made a successful effort to breed them in captivity. In 1899, the paddock in the western section of the park was created. The animals today are cared for by staff from the San Francisco Zoo.

Growing up in the Midwest, lightning and thunder were frequent occurrences. The sound of  a storm approaching came up as a low rumble over the horizon, growing louder as it approached. I’ve had many nights’ sleep interrupted by it, to the point it became a soothing, comforting experience. When I moved to California as a teenager, I left that pleasant experience behind along with colorful autumn leaf displays, cold snowy winters, and stormy spring tornado seasons. I’ve always missed the thunderstorms, though.

Last night, we had a nice one pass through the Bay Area. After going to bed around 1 a.m., I was first awakened by the approaching storm around 3:30. By 5:00, I just got up for a while to watch and listen. Around 6:00, I went back to sleep satisfied with the experience. Suddenly, about 8:30, a bright flash and immediate loud explosion rocked my neighborhood, waking me up and sending the cats scurrying beneath the bed. It reminded me of the crescendo of light and sound that happens at the peak of Midwestern storms. It turns it was an exploding transformer, that left part of the city in the dark.

I don’t know why I find the weather so fascinating, but I do. I guess I love the intensity of nature, especially when nobody is being hurt. This afternoon, I found this photo on the San Francisco Chronicle’s website. I’ve never seen a photo like this, of lightning striking into the fog. I guess it’s another only-in-San Francisco thing.

If you want to, you can read the whole story there: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/12/BA0319MAI7.DTL.

The only hitch came when I tried to copy files stored on my Time Capsule. My Time Capsule backup files are fine, but I had other valuable files on the same disk that did not exist elsewhere. When I tried to copy several gigabytes of files to my computer, the procedure failed repeatedly. So I ended up going out to purchase new external drives for secure storage of my most valuable files: my portfolio. I will now keep those valuable files on one drive with a separate backup. I’m still slowly copying those files over, which I will complete over the next few days. I definitely gained a better understanding of how these things need to be set up to be (mostly) fail-proof.

All-in-all, I am very pleased with the new system. It runs quickly and improves on the previous system, which was already the best operating system ever. Owning a Mac definitely costs more, but I still believe I get a good value for the dollars spent. Snow Leopard adds further value.

Check this out, excerpted from the L.A. Times blogger Pete Thomas:

As Southern Californians continue to deal with fire and smoke, residents and tourists in Baja California Sur are bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Jimena, an intense storm that might cause widespread flooding and damage.

The 8 a.m. Monday advisory from the National Hurricane Center positioned the eye of the storm 355 miles south-southeast of Cabo San Lucas. It’s traveling to the northwest with maximum sustained winds of about 145 mph, making it a Category 4 hurricane. It will make landfall in the Magdalena Bay area late Tuesday or very early Wednesday.

The government of Mexico has issued a Hurricane Warning for the southern half of the state. That means hurricane conditions are likely within the next 24 hours.

Beachfront hotels are shoring up and fishing fleet crews from Cabo San Lucas to La Paz have been pulling boats from the water or moving them to safer areas. Guests at Rancho Leonero Resort on the East Cape were sent home. Guests at nearby Hotel Punta Colorada were moved to Hotel Palmas de Cortez. Both are Van Wormer Resorts properties.

Tracy Ehrenberg, general manager of Pisces Sportfishing in Cabo San Lucas, said Monday morning that seas were calm and the port was still open. In fact, Pisces has two charters today. Ehrenberg expects the typical chaos in advance of a hurricane — long lines at gas stations, etc. — to ensue throughout the day.

Mark Rayor, who runs Vista Sea Sport in Buena Vista in the East Cape, took delivery of a Cabo 35 fishing boat Friday in La Paz. A day after he drove the boat south to the East Cape, he drove it back to the protected harbor in La Paz. “The people I bought it from told me it was a lucky boat,” he said. “I’m hoping they were right.”

If there’s a silver lining, the region is drought-stricken and parched, and Jimena is already delivering showers. Said Eric Brictson, owner of Gordo Banks Pangas: “It has been a while since we have been hit, so this could be the one one that finally brings some much-needed rainfall.”

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2009/08/hurricane-jimena-.html

Living in San Francisco, warm weather is in short supply. We have spectacular beaches that are usually too cold for fun-in-the-sun. Even when the air is warm, the water remains very cold.

When I go home to San Diego, it is mostly to visit family and catch up with friends. So this time I decided to just take a day out for me. I always enjoyed going to Torrey Pines State Beach when I lived in San Diego. The steep cliffs create a sense of distance and seclusion from civilization. Once again, I was not disappointed. The weather was spectacular. It was not too crowded, and the ocean water was a refreshing 74 degrees, making for good swimming.

As all this has unfolded, there have been several side projects, too. My plan to set up all my feeds in Google Reader is finally finished. It will be so much easier to simultaneously keep up with my job search, track design trends, etc. I also finally focused on the Photoshop-to-XHTML work flow. By focusing on some tutorial resources, I will be able to master this skill quickly. It’s not terribly difficult, once I sat down and focused on what needed to be done. Today’s sideshow was finally organizing all our bookmarks and putting them up on Delicious. It seems the big lesson of this visit has been to be resourceful. No sense reinventing the wheel! We still have a few things to do, but my “working vacation” is not even half over.

I don’t know what I’d do without my buddy, Kevin. We met in school when we were both in the early stages of career changes. We had many overlapping interests and life experiences. It’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime friendships. We challenge, teach each other, encourage and support each other personally and professionally. The picture in this post is from our recent visit to Flash Camp at the Adobe offices in San Francisco. I’m already wondering what fun memories our next visit will bring…

Sam’s Chowder House, Half Moon Bay, California

Today started off much like any other lazy weekend day does; and then it got even better!!! After a good night’s rest, my partner and I woke up early (for us) and decided to go for a little drive. Heading out, we decided to go to the Vacaville Outlets, near Sacramento, not so much to shop as to take a long drive with a destination in mind.

I decided to take a little detour. Instead of taking the most direct, predictable route over the Bay Bridge and through the teeth-gnashing East Bay traffic, I decided to head north over the Golden Gate Bridge around the northern end of San Pablo Bay south of Sonoma and Napa Valleys. It was a beautiful day for a drive, so I decided we may as well enjoy the journey as much as the destination.

Along the way, we decided to stop in Tiburon for breakfast. I’d been there a few weeks ago with another friend and made a mental note to return again soon with Jim because I knew he’d love it. We both agreed the village around the ferry landing had a New England quaintness to it that is unexpected on the West Coast—like Provincetown without so many tourists. We walked around the village for a while, then stopped at Dave & Mike’s for breakfast. The portions were large, the food was delicious, the price was good enough, and the service was excellent.

Tummies full, we headed back to US-101 North to California-37 East. This road passes along the northern edge of San Pablo Bay, the large inland body of water just north of the more-famous San Francisco Bay. The North Bay, as locals call it, is a rural escape from the more urban East Bay, South Bay, Peninsula, and San Francisco. Along the way we passed vineyards, certified-organic farms, pastures full of happily grazing animals, and wide-open wetlands. As we approached Vallejo, we passed Six Flags—Marine World before finally heading north toward Sacramento on Interstate 80. Our detour was now complete, though we continued to enjoy the scenic drive through the East Bay hills and Sacramento River delta.

When we arrived in Vacaville, which roughly translates to “Cow Town”, we enjoyed sunny warm weather. It was about 80 degrees with a light refreshing breeze. Summers in San Francisco can be on the cold side, so we were delighted to walk around comfortably in shorts and t-shirts. We got a couple things for starters…a t-shirt here, a belt there, but nothing really struck our fancy. Jim’s not big on outlets, but we were content to just enjoy the heat and do some window shopping. Having finished surveying one side of the street that divides the Vacaville Premium Outlets, we drove across to the parking lot on the other side of the street to check out the rest. That’s when we discovered our favorite stores: Cole Haan, Restoration Hardware, Calvin Klein and Burberry.

Wow, did we make out like bandits! Actually, I just picked up a wallet and a pair of pajama bottoms. Jim really did make out like a bandit, though. He has needed a nice briefcase or attache for the past year. We’ve looked and looked, but not found anything that didn’t cost at least $1000 that we liked. Today we found the perfect Cole Haan $1000 leather bag for less than half price. Say no more: SOLD! We agreed that alone made the trip worth the drive. Then we stumbled into the Calvin Klein store where he picked up a brand new suit for less than $300. We’ve been looking at similar suits for him in the $700 – $1000 range, so this was another deal too good to pass up. Ecstatic by now, we stumbled into Restoration Hardware, followed by Burberry. We surveyed all the loot, making mental notes to return again soon for more amazing deals.

Satisfied and retail-therapy-satiated to the max, we got in the car and headed back toward San Francisco. We passed a bunch of chain restaurants, but nothing looked very good. We decided to head through the East Bay traffic juggernaut toward Hayward to cross the San Mateo Bridge heading toward Half Moon Bay. It was the most unlikely decision of the day, but it was such a nice day we decided to go for it. Coming through Berkeley, traffic was bad-as-usual, but manageable. Once we passed the Bay Bridge turn-off, we headed down Interstate 880 at full speed.

Soon we were crossing the 8-mile-wide San Mateo Bridge over San Francisco Bay, then heading over the Peninsula hills to the San Mateo County coast. We turned north on California’s famous Highway 1 toward San Francisco, stopping at Sam’s Chowder House in Half Moon Bay. We have passed by here hundreds of times, but it’s always crowded with a full parking lot. Today was no different, except we pulled into a space right out front, got seated right away, ordered the best seafood chowder we’ve ever tasted, then finished off our appetites with lobster rolls and swordfish. Tummies replenished again, we continued north on Highway 1 back to San Francisco.

Before we got home, we had virtually circled the entire Bay Area, passing through eight of its nine counties: Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Contra Costa, Alameda, San Mateo and San Francisco. The only area we missed was Santa Clara County, home of Silicon Valley and the city of San Jose. All along the way, we passed through California’s rolling hills, over its faults, through its cities, across its rural stretches, past its rivers, along its coasts, over its bays, and through its valleys taking in one breathtaking scenic view after another. I always feel so lucky to live here in the Bay Area. It is simply the most amazing metropolitan area I have ever seen. Where else can you have all the experiences we had in one day?

Hubble Telescope Pillars of Creation

I am, admittedly, not much of a scientist. I find the scientific process tedious and uninspiring, in general. I mean, how compelling can forming and testing hypotheses be? Either it works and can be repeated (resulting in scientific fact) or it doesn’t work.

The Hubble Space Telescope, however, is one of those things that has bridged the gap between science and art. Could we have imagined 20 years ago how much we would learn from the images taken by Hubble? Such breathtaking imagery was simply beyond our imaginations. Even those images were potentially compromised when the original mirrors were cut in a way that left the telescope essentially disabled after launch. Later super telescopes have expanded the point-of-view first revealed by Hubble, allowing us to see non-visual spectrums of light revealing even the furthest reaches of the known or imagined universe.

Today, the space shuttle Atlantis launched what is likely to be the last repair mission to Hubble. It’s gyroscopes are not functioning well, leaving it wobbling in place in orbit. Left to the natural course of things, it would soon crash to earth. It will crash to earth someday, but the emotional response triggered by its breathtaking imagery led to an unprecedented demand amongst the public to keep it up there running a while longer.

Space travel is never without risk. This mission is being openly labeled higher-than-usual risk by Mission Control. I hope the brave astronauts complete their mission and return home safely.